"Pain de Pecan" - June Artisan BOM

Over at our Artisan Bread group, The bread of the month (BOM) challenge for June was "Pain de Pecan" and after looking at several recipes and some photos, I decided to make mine into cinnamon roll style and add some wet walnuts along with my pecans. They Actually turned out very delicious and easy to make. They would be great for a  Sunday brunch.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sour dough start
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup hot water
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups all-purpose whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon                       

• ** Filling**
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, mixed with 4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, wet walnuts and/or raisins, optional

***Icing***

• 2 tablespoons soft butter
• 2 tablespoons soft cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Preparation: In small bowl or cup, mix together sugar, yeast and water and let bubble. In  a large bowl add sour dough, vanilla, softened butter and stir. Pour yeast water into sour dough and mix. added the rest of the ingredients and stir until dough starts to form into a ball. Turn out onto lightly floured counter, knead until smooth. Cover with warm damp towel and allow to raise until double in size. Roll out to a rectangle about 10 X 18 inches. Brush with melted butter; sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture. then if you choose add walnuts, pecans and raisins. Starting at long end, carefully roll up; pinch seams together. Measure and cut 1-inch slices. I used pastry floss or string. Place cut side up on a buttered baking sheet. Cover with a slightly dampened towel and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes, or until browned. Drizzle with the icing, or your own favorite glaze or icing. As you can tell from the photo above I like my topped with wet walnuts.

Sour Dough Saturday

For our Super Saturday Cooking School Challenge today, we thought we would make our sour dough round loaves. This slightly crunch bread, with its rich brown crust, is very typical of a San Francisco sourdough loaf, know where I grew up as sheep herders bread. We love this bread for its chewiness and golden crust.

Ingredients:

•  1 1/2 cup  sourdough starter
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 3 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 5 cups Flour

1) In a large bowl add warm water, sprinkle yeast and sugar on top of and let set 2 minutes. 




 

2) Mix in Sour dough Start and let set another 3 minutes.

 3) Add Flour and salt 

 4) then mix until dough form a ball and pulls away from the the side of the bowl, kneading to form a smooth dough.

5) Allow the dough to rise, in a covered bowl, until it's doubled in size, about 90 minutes.







 6) Gently divide the dough in half; it'll deflate somewhat.




 

7) Gently shape the dough into two  oval loaves; or, for longer loaves, two 10" to 11" logs. (we divided ours into 4small round loaves ). Place the loaves on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise until very puffy, about 1 hour. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 425°F. Spray the loaves with lukewarm water. Make two fairly deep diagonal slashes in each; a serrated bread knife, wielded firmly, works well here.

8) Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it's a very deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and cool on a rack.

"French Fridays with Dorie" - Guacamole with Tomatoes and Bell Peppers

Dinner is served...
My husband makes very VERY yummy guacamole, so I was really hesitant to make this recipe, but since I am enjoying a chick-flick sort of evening, I got thinking this would be a great low-cal dinner. I love my guacamole chunky and I added cucumber. This is a very tasty recipe and will make it again. It makes a lot and would be great for a party starter...
I love the surprisingly bold flavor of all the fresh veggies.

Dorie´s Guacamole recipe calls for ripe Hass avocados, chopped red onion, diced grape tomatoes, red bell peppers, diced jalapenos, coriander, freshly squeezed lime juice, fine sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and some hot sauce. You can find all the details in her cookbook entitled "Around My French Table"

First batch of Scones...

We enjoyed our first batch of sour dough scones today for lunch...

Sour Dough & Summer Fun!

I love the first day of summer... It makes for a great excuse to start my sour dough! It also means that I am back from spending the week cooking at Girls camp, which is one of the major highlights of my summer! 

This is the only recipe I have ever used to start my sour dough. I grew up on the old pioneer recipes because of my heritage and due to the fact that my father like to make biscuits and scones for the family and the big 4th or July celebration in Circleville. 

Here it is... It has never failed me!

How to make Sourdough Starter:

1 tablespoon (1 packet) yeast (not rapid-rise)
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 more cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar or honey

This is a 2-quart glass jar. You dissolve yeast in the 1/2 cup of water. Add flour, additional water, and the sugar or honey. Beat till blended. You can leave it in the jar to ferment, or transfer it to a larger jar, because the starter needs room to bubble up and expand. Store in on counter or in a dry warm place, should be ready to use in 24 hours.

"ATW80DS" - South Pole Chicken Pockets

 Hydroponic gardens and growing chambers produces the only fresh food that most of the stations on the South Pole will eat during their nine-month winter isolation.

Between February and November, there are about five months of complete 24-hour darkness, and the temperature ranges from -50°F to -100°F, so the bright lights, humid air, plant smells and colors of all sorts are just some of the reasons the“winterovers” are thankful for this escape from the hostile environment outside. Salads are enjoyed the most...

Ingredients:

1 pound peppered bacon

4 medium potatoes, chopped (we like mashed)

3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

4 fresh Green Beans for each meal

1 medium onion, chopped

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves for each meal

1 teaspoon butter for each meal

4 small sprigs of fresh rosemary

garlic salt to taste

Directions:

1.	In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until evenly brown. Drain, chop coarsely, and set aside.
2.	On 4 large squares of heavy duty aluminum foil, evenly distribute the potatoes, bacon, beans, carrots, and onion. Arrange the chicken breasts over the vegetables, Top each with 1 teaspoon  butter, and rosemary, season with garlic salt. Fold the foil over the ingredients, and tightly seal.
3.	Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat.
4.	Place foil packets on the grill, and cook for 20 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

"ATW80DS" - North Pole / Christmas Cakes

Christmas Cakes

2 cups dried currents

1 cup golden raisins

1 cup dark raisins

1/4  cup maraschino cherries (cut in half)

1/4 cup chopped dates

3 tablespoons apple cider

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

4 large eggs

1/4 cup chopped Almonds

1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1/4 cup grated lemon zest

1/4 cup grates orange zest

      You need to begin this cake the night before you want to bake it. Mix the dried fruit and zests, place it in a mixing bowl and mix in the apple cider (brandy was used in the old English recipe) as evenly and thoroughly as possible. Cover the bowl with a clean tea cloth and leave the fruit aside to absorb the cider for 12 hours.

       Next day pre-heat the oven to 350*. Now begin the cake by sifting the flour, salt and spices into a large mixing bowl, lifting the sieve up high to give the flour a good airing. Next, in a separate large mixing bowl, whisk the butter and sugar together until it's light, pale and fluffy. Now beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add them to the creamed mixture a tablespoonful at a time; keep the whisk running until all the egg is incorporated. If you add the eggs slowly by degrees like this the mixture won't curdle. If it does, don't worry, any cake full of such beautiful things can't fail to taste good!

      When all the egg has been added, fold in the flour and spices, using gentle, folding movements and not beating at all (this is to keep all that precious air in). Now fold in the fruit mixture and chopped nuts. Next, using a large kitchen spoon, transfer the cake mixture into the prepared bread tins, spread it out evenly with the back of a spoon and, if you don't intend to ice the cake, lightly drop the whole blanched almonds in circles or squares all over the surface. Finally cover the top of the cakes with foil, do not seal the foil, just lay on top so that the cakes can rise and get air.

      Bake the cake  for 4½-4¾ hours. Sometimes it can take up to ½-¾ hour longer than this, but in any case don't look till at least 4 hours have passed. Cool the cake for 30 minutes in the tin, then remove it to a wire rack to finish cooling. When it's cold 'feed' it – make small holes in the top and base of the cake with a cocktail stick or small skewer, then spoon over a few teaspoons of cider or brandy, decorate with icing of choice and enjoy.